Livestock Behaviour

a practical guide

Ronald Kilgour

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429725388
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

The book aims to bring together the essential information on animal behaviour for those concerned with the husbandry, management and welfare of farm animals. It provides information to make fuller use of labour, reduce accidents, and increase the wellbeing and productivity of farm livestock.

1
Introduction

What is animal behaviour?

‘Behaviour’ is a term used widely in many sciences but in this book it covers, ‘the patterns of action observed in animals which occur either voluntarily or involuntarily’. An animal’s behaviour provides information on a wide range of factors such as breathing, eating, drinking, fighting, mating and milking. Observations of external behaviour can often lead to deductions about the internal state of the animal.

The term Ethology is now used to describe the science of animal behaviour although others would define it as the ‘biology of behaviour’. More recently farm animal behaviour studies have come to be termed ‘applied ethology’, which covers each farm animal species and such topics as stockmanship, stress, transport and welfare.

Differences between species

Even the casual observer of farm animals is aware of the wide differences in behaviour between species, and these have a profound effect on farming systems. Species-specific responses which are carried out in the same fixed way are not altered by learning. Other species behavioural responses are more flexible and can be changed by learning.

Farmers need to work with, rather than against, the animals’ known species-specific behaviour patterns and in the short term it is easier to fit husbandry to the animals than change the animals by selection to fit what may in fact be inappropriately designed units.

The differences between farm animal species is further highlighted in the sensitivity and the way they use their eyes, ears, noses and other sense organs. This can also differ greatly from man’s sensory abilities. The challenge to the stockman is to appreciate what each species can see, smell, hear and feel in order to anticipate their reactions during handling. This is the art of stockmanship.

Domestication

As man has only domesticated about sixteen of the 3000 animal species, it cannot be concluded that all worthwhile domestication has been completed. Domestication is a continuing process and the consideration of behaviour is fundamental in any attempts to extend domestication to new species.

Confusion arises over definitions of terms such as wild, feral, tame and domestic. A wild animal has been left alone in its habitat and not exposed, harassed or hunted by man. Few animals today would fit this definition, so it is more realistic to say that wild animals have, in general, been left in peace with minimal disturbance from outside.

A feral animal is one that was formerly domesticated but has been released or has escaped and returned to a semi-wild state. There are many examples around the world of feral cats, dogs, sheep, cattle, pigs, horses, goats, donkeys and camels. These feral populations can provide valuable behavioural information which can be applied to the domestic counterpart.

Taming is not domestication but describes the process of reducing the flight distance of the animal when approached. Tame animals may let you walk up to them and even touch them without being restrained.

Domestication is dealt with more fully in other texts where there is a range of definitions (see references 2, 5,6, 10, 11, 12) for those wanting further information. Hale¹ provides a list of the advantageous traits in certain species which allow them to live more effectively with man and allow man to manipulate them to mutual advantage. This approach has been developed further by Kilgour^3,4 and is described as the ‘domestic contract’.

Man’s domestic contract with animals

In this view, man’s relationship with farm animals is thought of in terms of an unwritten ‘contract’ between the two parties – it is a trade-off. For the economic benefits man obtains from livestock they must come to accept a number of changes:

• Control of breeding – the number of sexual partners is reduced or artificial insemination is used.
• Changed survival patterns – the weak are helped to survive and disease and parasites are controlled.
• Altered nutrition – feed quantity and quality is manipulated and the range of foods on offer reduced.
• Genetic selection can lead to changes which in time may set the domestic animal apart from its wild counterpart.
• Reduction in freedom and choices.

To honour this contract it behoves man to know and have accurate information about the animal’s physiological and behavioural needs. This is especially important when farming systems are altered and become more intensive and restrictive. The study of farm animal behaviour plays an important role within this contract and helps the husbandman assess and meet the animal’s welfare needs. The contract should be symbiotic where both partners benefit. It should also be regularly re-examined as technology and economic pressures act to force change. McBride⁷ has presented a useful framework to show how man’s contract with farm animals differs from the interactions taking place for wild animals.

Welfare

The welfare of farm animals only takes on proper meaning within the terms of the domestic contract. Otherwise problems arise with the definition of what constitutes welfare. Some common consensus must be reached by all who keep animals for research, sport, entertainment and pleasure as well as farmers, so that man’s responsibilities to these animals can be examined and re-examined. For some, welfare has become a very emotive word and it has even been used as a substitute for stress.⁸ A range of definitions is presented for interested students in appendix 1. The concern over what constitutes ‘intensive’ and ‘factory’ farming is also part of this debate and definitions of these from the literature are given in appendix 2.

Concern for animal welfare issues has tended to grow with urbanisation. Few people in cities have experience of rural life and the gap between ‘town’ and ‘country’ widens. Both the media and legislature gather increasing support from urban centres, and the urban views which are propounded will have increasing impact in the future.

Viewpoints on welfare

There are five broad viewpoints on welfare.³ These are:

• Welfarists – people mildly or strongly opposed to many or all forms of intensive farming. They may include those who believe animals should not be exploited for any reason.
• Farmers or operators – who have an interest in, or gain a livelihood from, farming animals.
• The public – who tend to be disinterested unless their attention is focussed on an issue by the media, and who would generally resist paying extra to cover the costs of food produced under improved-welfare systems.
• Research workers – whose job is to provide insights into the response patterns and behavioural needs, and who build up the ethogram or inventories of farm stock.
• The animal – whose needs should be accurately defined by good research work both on and off the farm.

Further discussion points on each viewpoint are given in appendix 3.

Welfare in practice

Farmers need to ask themselves practical questions such as:

• Are the animals producing normally?
• Are they healthy and free from injury?
• Is their behaviour normal?
• Are the animals handled or housed without undue stress?
• Are they handled in accord with their species-specific behaviour patterns?
• If the system is adversely affecting them, can it be modified and made more acceptable?
• If the systems should be abandoned what are the appropriate and viable alternatives?

The motivation for good farm animal welfare grows from the concerned and informed farmer’s response. Legislation will do little to change human behaviour or affect human motives. Laws are needed to cover cases of gross cruelty, but codes of practice are more helpful guidelines to improve and suggest to farmers ways in which the welfare of livestock can be improved. The husbandman must finally be responsible for the animals in the system and their management, as the terms of the domestic contract are upheld. Codes can act as a guide.

Analysing behaviour problems

When problems arise which have or are suspected to have a behaviour component, a number of questions need to be answered. These are:

• What is the animal doing – how is it behaving?
• Would this behaviour be expected at this time and place?
• Is the behaviour normal or abnormal (anomalous)?
• Why is the animal acting in this way?

Each question follows on from the previous one and the answers should be obtained by referring to the species ethogram or the catalogue of precise detailed responses which make up an animal’s behaviour. Examples of ethograms for sheep and goats¹ and for dogs, wolves and foxes⁹ (see appendix 5) are available, though a little sketchy in places. The system of behaviour classification used as the basis for the sheep ethogram can be a useful guide when building up ethograms for other farm species. Where ethograms are not yet available, observations and detailed recording will need to be made by the stockman or researcher. One important practical problem and the way it was approached to solve it, is given in appendix 4.

Social behaviour

The domestic contract involves highly social farm animals. These animals cannot be successfully managed if their social behaviour is ignored. Social behaviour is defined as ‘the regular and predictable behaviour that occurs between two or more individual animals’. Although farm animals are usually run in groups, they are rarely natural groups but are arranged by farmers according to sex, size, age or breed and this can lead to additional pressures or harassment of one animal by another.

Within groups of animals various social structures exist. During movement, a regular movement order can be seen in herds or flocks, and a social dominance hierarchy or ‘peck’ or ‘bunt order’ can be set up in groups which operate together for any length of time. The social dominance order affects many aspects of farm animal management particularly when animals have restricted access to space, mates, food or water.

Animals not only interact with their own species, but they respond to other species’ members. They may be treated as ‘neutral’ and not posing a threat, or as predators. The dog is often used as a domestic animal to work sheep or cattle and they react to the dog as a predator. The domestic contract set up by man also involves a social interaction where man may be treated as a social equal or more dominant partner (man/dog); neutral (man/cat) or as a threat (man/sheep; man/cow; man/horse). The success of these social interactions may also depend on whether the animal has had some positive or negative early social experience with man. If the larger farm species have been mishandled and have come to associate handling with pain and fear, they may remain a potential danger to man.

In this chapter the nature of the unwritten domestic contract between man and farm livestock has been outlined and some of the implications indicated. The welfare debate has been set in its proper context. It is now appropriate to turn to a consideration of the behaviour important for practical management for each species in much greater detail.

References

1. Hafez, E.S.E., Cairns, R.B., Hulet, C.V. and Scott, J.P. (1969) ‘The behaviour of sheep and goats’, Chapter 10 in The Behaviour of Domestic Animals, 2nd edn, ed. E.S.E. Hafez, London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cassell, pp. 296–348.

2. Hale, E.B. (1969) ‘Domestication and the evolution of behaviour’. In The Behaviour of Domestic Animals, 2nd edn, ed. E.S.E. Hafez, London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cassell, pp. 22–42.

3. Kilgour, R. (1980) ‘Animal welfare – the conflicting viewpoints’. In Behaviour in Relation to Reproduction, Management and Welfare of Farm Animals, eds. M. Wodzicka-Tomaszewska, T.N. Edey and J.J. Lynch, Armidale, NSW: University of New England Press, pp. 175–82.

4. Kilgour, R. (1983) ‘Stress and behaviour: An operational approach to animal welfare’. Proc. C.E.C. Sei. Sympos. on Animal Housing and Welfare, Aberdeen, July 27–29, 1982, pp. 1–13.

5. King, J.M. and Heath, B.R. (1975) ‘Game domestication for animal production in Africa’. Wld. Anim. Rev. 16, 23–30.

6. Lorenz, K. (1953) Man Meets Dog. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 1–198.

7. McBride, G. (1980) ‘Adaptation and welfare at t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Cattle
• 3 Sheep
• 4 Goat
• 5 Deer
• 6 Horse
• 7 Pig
• 8 Hen
• 9 Dog
• 10 Handling and Welfare
• APPENDIXES
• Glossary
• Author Index
• Subject Index